Burnout, job stress and coping in the South African Police Service in the Limpopo Province / Christiaan Frederick Nortje

Abstract:

The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationship between burnout, job stress
and coping in a sample of police officers. A further objective was to test a causal model of
burnout, job stress and coping.
A survey design was used to reach these objectives. The study population (N = 192) consisted
of police personnel in the Limpopo Province. All police members at randomly identified
small stations (fewer than 25 staff members) and medium stations (25- 100 staff members) in
each of the policing areas were asked to complete the questionnaires. In the large stations
(more than 100 staff members) stratified random samples were taken according to race and
sex. Three questionnaires were used in the empirical study, namely the Maslach Burnout
Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), the Police Stress Inventory (PSI) and the COPE
Questionnaire (COPE).
From the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, definite correlations were found
between exhaustion, job demands and lack of resources. Cynicism correlated with
exhaustion, job demands and an avoidance coping style. However, professional efficacy did
not correlate with any of the other dimensions.
The results of the canonical correlations indicated that job demands, avoidance coping and
low levels of emotional support are associated with high levels of exhaustion and cynicism,
and lower levels of professional efficacy. The canonical analysis also showed that a high
level of lack of resources and lower levels of job demands and police stressors are associated
with exhaustion and professional efficacy.
Structural equation modelling (SEM) methods as implemented by AMOS were used to
construct a causal model of burnout. The results showed that job demands (as stressors) are
associated with exhaustion. Passive coping strategies contributed to exhaustion and lower
levels of professional efficacy, while seeking emotional support led to lower exhaustion. Job
demands did not directly contribute to cynicism, but it seems to have an impact on cynicism
through exhaustion. A lack of resources, active coping strategies and not coping passively
seem to impact on professional efficacy. A lack of resources is also associated with feelings
of cynicism.
Recommendations for future research were made.